Kawasaki/Racer X Race Report

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It was the race everyone was talking about. There was a championship on the line tonight in Detroit, MI, and it came down to the wire. It was a fitting end to a very exciting season for the Eastern Regional Lites class, and when the dust settled in Ford Field, it was a Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider taking home his first AMA championship.

Morais came up a bit short tonight

Everyone knew the scenario, and the championship came down to who was the best rider on this particular tonight. In fact, it came down to the rider who made the least mistakes, and that was Ben Townley.

When the gate dropped, Yamaha of Troy’s Ryan Morais got the best start of his entire season as he came out second behind Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, who collected the Progressive Direct Holeshot. Ben Townley was around fifth, and the third championship contender, Darcy Lange, got a terrible start and was around 18th, pretty much eliminating himself from championship contention.

With Dungey out front, Morais stayed close for the first lap, and after a very strong showing in his qualifier, Morais was in a great position to win his first pro championship. But then something shocking happened, which was the defining moment of the season. Morais stalled his YZ250F. He restarted as quickly as possible, and rejoined the race just outside the top 10. The championship was now Townley’s to lose.

But he wasn’t going to lose it. While Morais tried to mount his comeback, the New Zealander battled with SoBe No Fear/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Billy Laninovich before slipping into second place. Team Honda’s Tommy Hahn followed Townley past Laninovich and into a podium position.

Your 2007 Eastern Regional Lites Champion - Ben Townley

But all eyes were on Morais and the calculators were out. Would he be able to reel in the frontrunners and put himself into a position to win the title? He tried, valiantly, but ran out of laps. Morais worked his way up to fifth, but with Townley in second, it wouldn’t be enough. Ben Townley, the 2004 MX2 World Champion, now added an AMA Supercross Lites championship to his resume.

The AMA Supercross class was business as usual for Monster Energy Kawasaki’s James Stewart. Pull holeshot, win. And Stewart did just that. But in second place we saw Stewart’s teammate, Tim Ferry, running a very strong second. Ferry rode there for much of the race, keeping James honest. The question was if he could maintain that position from the hard-charging Chad Reed, who was sporting the Leatt-Brace for the first time in a main event. The San Manuel Yamaha rider started around seventh and slowly worked his way up. Reed was off tonight, but by the halfway mark he was in third and had his sights set on the #15.

With five laps to go Reed was on Ferry’s rear fender and made the pass with a line he used the entire main event passing the other riders. Ferry stayed close, but was unable to retaliate and would finish third. It was also an excellent race for SoBe No Fear/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Kevin Windham, who followed Reed’s Yamaha through the pack. Windam was unable to get around Ferry, and finished fourth. Team Honda’s Andrew Short put in another solid performance, finishing fifth.